End of Faith, Start of Hope
by EverySongEnds
Summary: This is set after Season 5 Episode 12!
1. Chapter 1

It was someone none of them believed they would ever see again

It was someone none of them believed they would ever see again. Of course they knew the day would come but each and every one of them had put him in the back of their minds and out of their hearts. And now here he was, standing before them all. Dan Scott. Father, Grandfather and murderer. It was enough to take Karen's breath away. This was the man who had destroyed her happiness and ruined her little girl's world forever. But four years had gone by and Karen was not angry or fearful at the sight of Dan. She had rebuilt her life, her happiness and was at peace with her past now.

"Sir you're under arrest please put your hands behind your back" Dan put his hands behind his back as asked, but never breaking the gaze with everyone in the room.

Four years had hardly aged him. He still looked the same Dan Scott, only his build was bigger and he had faint grey hairs starting to show around his facial hair which he also never used to have.

Haley held Jamie protectively. She and Nathan had never wanted Dan to know or even see their son, and now here Jamie was thinking that his Grandpa was someone who had saved him. Haley felt a little naïve and stupid for not realizing this day would eventually come. "What do you mean he saved you?" Haley asked frantically. She was sure it was Dan who had taken Jamie from the church, she had seen him before the wedding, who else would have taken her baby boy?

"Nanny Carrie came and got me from the wedding. She said she was going to be my new mummy"

"Nanny Carrie?" Haley immediately turned to Nathan. Nathan didn't meet Haley's gaze, thinking that she blamed him. He felt a bit of guilt but knew that this wasn't his fault.

The officer stepped over to Haley. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we really need to get to the bottom of this"

* * *

"I can't believe we nearly lost him. I really thought he was gone Nathan"

They were sitting at the end of their son's bed while Jamie was sound asleep. It took a while for him to settle down, he had so many questions to ask.

"_I thought you said Grandpa was bad" he had asked looking straight into his parents eyes waiting for an answer. __Haley didn't exactly know how to answer this question. Although he had helped Jamie, it still made her feel a little uneasy that he had turned up to the wedding intending to see her son. Dan was manipulative and evil._

"_He is bad baby" she said soothingly. That's all she could say. How could she tell a four year old that the person who just saved him was a bad person? A very bad person. _

_Nathan intervened. "If you see him again Jamie, I need you to come tell us okay?"_

_Jamie nodded in agreement although he still didn't fully understand why his Grandpa was so bad._

"_Now go to sleep baby" Haley said kissing Jamie happily on the forehead pretending she wasn't still shaken up about the day's events. _

"_Night buddy" Nathan said looking down at his son. _

"I know hayles, but he's safe now" Nathan wasn't sure he truly believed the words that he was saying. For the first time since his accident he felt that he couldn't protect his family. God, he didn't even know if they were a family anymore.

"Will you stay with us tonight?" Haley asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

Tonight it wasn't about her and what she was feeling. It was about being a family and protecting their son.

And although Nathan had all these different thoughts flying through his head about what this could mean, he didn't dare ask incase he ruined the moment.

He held out his hand to Haley, who took hold of it like a child, smiling nervously.

_Should I be doing this? _She kept asking herself over and over in her head as she was laying in bed but all she knew at that moment was that she needed Nathan.

Nathan could sense this and immediately held out his arm for Haley to snuggle down into his chest. _This is how it should be, _he thought, while kissing Haley's soft hair. Tomorrow's problems could wait.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucas laid on his bed still in his black tux from the wedding

Lucas laid on his bed still in his black tux from the wedding. _His _wedding. He needed to stop and think about everything that had gone on in that one day. The woman he said "I do" to thinks that he's in love with Peyton Sawyer, Jamie's Nanny stole him from the wedding and Dan saved the day! It was beginning to feel a little like old times, like they were all still in High School.

"Lucas?" Karen poked her head through the doorway

"Are you ok?, would you like to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about Mom? …Today I woke up thinking I was going to get married to the woman that I love, but _apparently _I don't love her" Lucas looked hurt and angry. "God, Mom, you know, isn't it me that's supposed to decide who I love?!" He raised his voice, thinking about everyone he cared about never believing that Lindsay was his true love. Karen still hadn't said a word.

"All I could think about this morning was how proud Keith would be of me"

"He is proud of you Lucas, you know that" Karen said softly but firmly. She needed Lucas to know that Keith would always be proud of him, just as she was. But all Lucas did was shake his shake. She hated to see her son like this. He was a grown man but he also needed his Mom.

"I love you Lucas" she said while embracing him in a motherly hug.

"I love you too Mom"

"I think I'm gonna go for a walk"

"Ok, be careful" Karen said while watching her son walk out his bedroom door.

* * *

"How is he?" Andy asked Karen as she was sitting down with a cup of tea at the kitchen table.

"Hurt…angry…. confused. I just wish there was some way I could help him"

"You are helping, just by being here" he held Karen's hand in his.

Karen looked from her cup of tea to Andy and gave him a smile.

"Do you think he's still in love with Peyton?" Andy asked

"I don't know, I mean it's normal to still have feeling for your first love… unless of course it's Dan Scott"

"Ohh Dan" Andy said leaning back in his chair remembering today's events "How are you dealing with that?"

"I'm fine" She said truthfully.

"Dan Scott has taken a lot from us over the years, I'm not going to let that happen again" She said confidently and matter-of-factly, standing up and walking to the kitchen sink. A part of her wondered if he had changed at all over these last four years, although she doubted it.

* * *

Lucas Scott stood by the river court in the cold dark air. Faintly you could still see the writing on the court from their final year. He remembered back to that time. They were all so happy, so sure that from that moment on everything would be okay, the future was there's. How wrong they had been he thought.

"I thought I might find you here" a soft voice said from behind. He turned to find Peyton standing there, still in the dress from the wedding.

"Lucas, I am so sorry"

"Sorry?... sorry for what Peyton? Sorry for coming back here? Sorry for being jealous? Sorry for the way you treated Lindsay!? He said angrily. Peyton cut him off

"Sorry for still loving you!"

Lucas half laughed not believing what she had just said.

"I think it's a little too late for that Peyton"

"You kissed me Luke!... You felt it, it was right." Lucas shook his head not looking at her while Peyton frantically tried to get out what she was trying to say, moving closer to Lucas so that he would look her in the eye.

"Don't you get it Luke?... We're meant to be together" she said almost defeated.

Lucas looked her in her teary eyes before turning away from her.

"No, don't you get it Peyton!? You shouldn't have come back here… I can't save you this time"

Lucas walked away, never turning back, while Peyton slowly fell to her knees in tears.


End file.
